Intelligent monitoring of an electrical utility grid

Abstract

A method of managing an electric utility grid includes geographically grouping a set of customer electric usage meters to create a set of fine sensors on a power grid. Each usage meter in the grouped set is capable of being remotely monitored, and each usage meter is at a different location along the power line. If a power anomaly is detected at the subset of meters, then power to the electric utility grid is adjusted to correct the anomaly.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of managing an electric utility grid, the method comprising:
 a computer geographically grouping a set of intelligent electricity usage meters as a set of fine sensors on a power grid, wherein each intelligent electricity usage meter in the set of fine sensors is capable of being remotely monitored, and wherein each intelligent electricity usage meter is coupled to a different customer facility selected from multiple customer facilities; 
 the computer remotely detecting an anomaly to power being read by at least one intelligent electricity usage meter from the set of fine sensors; and 
 in response to remotely detecting the anomaly, the computer: generating a digitized voltage profile of the anomaly and adjusting power to an electric utility grid to correct the anomaly. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein all of the set of fine sensors are coupled to a same power line via a local step-down transformer, the anomaly is a first power outage to a first customer facility from the multiple customer facilities, and the first power outage is detected by reading a zero input voltage coming into the first customer facility. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the anomaly further comprises a second power outage to a second customer facility from the multiple customer facilities, and wherein the first power outage and the second power outage indicate a failure to a same local step-down transformer. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 remotely detecting a circuit breaker trip at the first customer facility; 
 detecting a normal power delivery to a second customer facility from the multiple customer facilities; and 
 determining that the first power outage at the first customer facility is due solely to the circuit breaker trip at the first customer facility. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the anomaly is power noise caused by electromagnetic interference on the electric utility grid. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 transmitting the digitized voltage profile to an analytics server. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the anomaly is a voltage drop on the power line between a first customer facility and a second customer facility from the multiple customer facilities, the method further comprising:
 determining if the voltage drop exceeds a pre-determined acceptable level; and 
 in response to determining that that the voltage drop exceeds the pre-determined acceptable level, generating a work order to correct the voltage drop. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining that the anomaly has occurred more than a pre-determined number of occurrences during a pre-determined period of time; and 
 in response to determining that the anomaly has occurred more than the pre-determined number of occurrences during the pre-determined period of time, monitoring other sets of usage meters for similar anomalies that match the anomaly. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the anomaly is an absence of electrical power being received at a customer facility, the method further comprising:
 transmitting an interrogation signal from a local step-down transformer to an interrogation sensor in an electricity usage meter at the customer facility; 
 detecting an absence of the interrogation signal at the electricity usage meter; 
 in response to detecting both the absence of electrical power and the absence of the interrogation signal at the electricity usage meter at the customer facility, concluding that a drop line from the local step-down transformer to the customer facility has been cut. 
 
     
     
       10. An electric utility grid comprising:
 an analytics server for geographically grouping a set of electricity usage meters to create a fine sensor web on the power grid, wherein each electricity usage meter in the fine sensor web is capable of being remotely monitored, and wherein each electricity usage meter is coupled to a different power line monitoring point; 
 a data collection engine server for remotely detecting an anomaly to power being read by at least one electricity usage meter from the fine sensor web, generating a digitized voltage profile of the anomaly, and transmitting the digitized voltage profile to an analytics server; and 
 a grid adjustment logic for, in response to remotely detecting the anomaly, adjusting power to an electric utility grid to correct the anomaly. 
 
     
     
       11. A computer-readable medium on which is stored a computer program, the computer program comprising computer executable instructions configured for:
 geographically grouping a set of electricity usage meters to create a grouped set of fine power grid sensors, wherein each electricity usage meter in the grouped set of fine power grid sensors is capable of being remotely monitored, and wherein each electricity usage meter is coupled to a different power line monitor point; 
 remotely detecting an anomaly to power being read by at least one electricity usage meter from the grouped set of fine power grid sensors; and 
 in response to remotely detecting the anomaly, generating a digitized voltage profile of the anomaly for transmission to an analytics server and adjusting power to an electric utility grid to correct the anomaly. 
 
     
     
       12. The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein all of the grouped set of fine power grid sensors are coupled to a same local step-down transformer. 
     
     
       13. The computer-readable medium of  claim 12 , wherein the anomaly is a first power outage to a first customer facility selected from multiple customer facilities, and wherein the first power outage is detected by reading a zero difference between a total amount of power used by the first customer facility at a beginning and at an end of a pre-determined period of time. 
     
     
       14. The computer-readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the anomaly further comprises a second power outage to a second customer facility from the multiple customer facilities, and wherein the first power outage and the second power outage indicate a failure to the same distribution transformer. 
     
     
       15. The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the computer executable instructions are further configured for:
 remotely detecting a circuit breaker trip at the first customer facility; 
 detecting a normal power delivery to a second customer facility from the multiple customer facilities; and 
 concluding that the first power outage at the first customer facility is due solely to the circuit breaker trip at the first customer facility. 
 
     
     
       16. The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the anomaly is a voltage drop between a first customer facility and a second customer facility from the multiple customer facilities, and wherein the computer executable instructions are further configured for:
 determining if the voltage drop exceeds a pre-determined acceptable level; and 
 in response to determining that that the voltage drop exceeds the pre-determined acceptable level, generating a work order to correct the voltage drop. 
 
     
     
       17. The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the computer executable instructions are further configured for:
 determining that the anomaly has occurred more than a pre-determined number of occurrences during a pre-determined period of time; and 
 in response to determining that the anomaly has occurred more than the pre-determined number of occurrences during the pre-determined period of time, monitoring other sets of usage meters for similar anomalies that match the anomaly. 
 
     
     
       18. The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the computer-readable medium is a component of a remote server, and wherein the computer executable instructions are deployable to a supervisory computer from the remote server. 
     
     
       19. The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the computer executable instructions are capable of being provided by a service provider to a customer on an on-demand basis.